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ANIME REVIEWS


Love Hina

Before I watched this I was convinced that my preferred genre of anime was the all action, high tech, complex storyline style of such as Ghost in the Shell, Akira and Blood, the Last Vampire. In fact, the week I bought the first DVD in the series, I also bought Vampire Princess Miyu. Imagine my surprise when I found myself in stitches after a few moments and racing up to my local outlet to buy the other available DVD immediately!Now, of course my preferred genre is romantic comedy, and long may it so remain!

The basic storyline is familiar to most. Keitaro is a High School student living at home while trying to pass his entrance exams for Tokyo University. His parents put pressure on him to give it up and get a job. Coincidentally his Grandmother is set to retire from her job as manager at an all-girls dormitory at the family hot spring resort. She calls Keitaro to come for a visit without telling him why, leaves a message with his aunt, tells the girl residents she's leaving, and does a bolt!When Keitaro turns up, the girls assume he is an intruder and try to kill/expell him! Haruka (the aunt), arrives in the nick of time and saves her nephew.

Once upon a time Keitaro made a promise with a girl he can no longer remember that they would attend Tokyo U together. This is why he is so adamant about getting in. Lo and behold, one of the girls, Naru, is also trying to get into the same Uni, for the same reason. Could she be the girl he made that promise to, all those years ago?

The characters are great, the storyline is beautifully paced and perfectly written, the animation and artwork are second to none. The final payoff, in the last few minutes of the last episode, brings tears to my eyes everytime I see it.

Available in Australia on 6 DVDs (episodes 1-24) and fansubs for the rest (from just about everyone!)


Neon Genesis Evangelion

My first exposure to a series length anime. Shown on TV during 1998 on SBS, this series set new heights for what was anime. Even now, 8 years after it was made, it defines the mecha genre and one of its characters, Ayanami Rei,  is still the most popular in anime.

Set in the near future, half the world's population are dead and the world (or more specifically, Tokyo 3) is under attack from outer space by "Angels". At the story's start, Shinji has been summoned by his father, who he has not seen for years. He arrives at the train station to find the city deserted and a huge monster approaching. A woman arrives in a car, picks him up, and avoiding the monster narrowly, drives him away. She, she explains, works with his father at NERV. Shinji is given an ID card and a booklet explaining what NERV is. When they arrive at the underground HQ of the organisation Shinji is pressured by his father to piloting a huge machine, an EVA. These have been engineered by NERV as weapons against the attacking "Angels". After initially refusing, Shinji is shamed into doing as his father wishes when it is pointed out that the only alternative is to send out a badly injured girl, Rei, in his place.

Shinji proves to be unequaled as an EVA pilot, despite his reluctance, and the Angel is destroyed. Eventually there are three pilots, Shinji, Rei and Asuka. There are many "Angels" to fight, there is much interpersonal friction, especially between Shinji and Asuka. The tone starts off quite light, with plenty of humour, but becomes progressively darker as the series develops. Some storylines lead to shocking conclusions. The exposure of the true nature of Rei, for example, left me stunned for days (no, I'm not kidding) after, and still has the power to unsettle, 5 years after I first saw it.

A truly awesome anime. Especially compared to most of what preceded it and it still stands tall today. The end episodes of the original TV series (25-26) make no sense in the light of the previous 24. However, they were replaced with more sensible versions on the "Death/Rebirth" DVD, and a genuine conclusion appears on "The End Of Evangelion".

Available in Australia on a total of 10 (!) DVDs, which includes the "movies".


  Serial Experiments Lain

This is another landmark series. More so than NGE, in may respects, not least for the stunning visuals. Multi-media is used throughout, including "live-action" video (although it looks nothing like any "live-action" video you've ever seen!).

The storyline is one of the most complex of any anime I've seen. And yet, it pays off, incredibly. Lain is a shy schoolgirl, one of whose classmates has just killed herself. The dead girl seems to be sending emails from beyond the grave, Lain is, at series beginning, a bit of a technophobe and doesn't know how to read them. She asks her father for an upgrade for her "Navi" (home PC), which he, as a computer technician, is happy to do. Lain is soon opening the virtual door into "the wired" where she discovers an alternate version of herself. This other Lain appears to have been commiting atrocities left and right, as the real world discovers when a man kills himself in front of her in a club. As the story deepens and more is revealed so it deepens further. 

The main characters are all well realised, all vital to the story. I have a personal soft spot for Lain's sister! (After the "transformation"!) Lain's friend, Arisu (aka Alice), who is the first to approach her in an attempt to make her more sociable, is also great. 

The greatest thing about this anime, though, is the fact that if you just pick up episode 1 and then put it down, it makes no sense. If, however, you put in the time and effort to watch all 13 episodes, the whole greatly improves on the individual parts. Events are simply played out, with no clues as to why, and it is common to watch a scene in, say, episode 10, and have a little light go on in your mind as it pays off on something that happened in, say, episode 4. This anime is almost by definition, anti-episodic.

It is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I rate it very highly.

Available in Australia on a total of 4 DVDs.